Trapped

[h2]Trapped, psychological warfare in the form of a game[/h2] First of all, I want to state that I had absolutely no fun playing Trapped. But that is the best possible outcome. Why? Because it tortures you in a way that shows the developer understands horror as a whole. The game gets inside your head by introducing mechanics where, even after playing, I have no clue if there ever was a roaming threat or if mechanics such as hiding, blocking doors, and so on were only stylistic devices meant to terrify the player. And that's what makes it so good. It gives you a whole collection of possibilities and what ifs, but doesn't necessarily use all of them. Normally, giving the player mechanics they might never actually need sounds like bad game design, but here it's perfect. Every hiding place makes you wonder what you'll eventually have to hide from. Every door you can block makes you wonder what could eventually come through it. You spend the entire time thinking about when and how these mechanics will become useful, constantly waiting for something that might never even happen. It keeps you tense and locked into the experience. This is aided by the claustrophobic nature and overall tightness of the game, ironically fitting the title Trapped to a tee. The same goes for the scares. Even the direct scares don't offer you any relief or take away from the tension. The game rapid fires them in a way that leaves no room for a breather. You barely have time to process one scare before the next one comes, never giving you the release that would normally follow. Overall, a genuinely amazing experience by N4bA.